White Heat: Dept. 6 Hired Guns, Book 1

A dangerous cult has recently taken over the desert ghost town of Paradise, Arizona. Members worship at the feet - and in the bed - of its charismatic leader, Ethan Wycliff, and obey his orders blindly. They’ve already tried to murder one woman and they’re implicated in the disappearance of another. Nate Ferrentino, who works for private security contractor Department 6, has been assigned to infiltrate this group.

Dead Silence

There's a body buried behind a Mississippi farmhouse. Grace Montgomery knows who it is, and she knows why it happened. She was only 13 the night it all went wrong. And now, like then, she has no choice but to keep her mouth shut.

The Dollmaker: Forgotten Files, Book 2

Dr. Tessa McGowan had never seen anything quite like it. But the mutilated bodies on her exam table tell a stunningly macabre tale: someone with a twisted mind is kidnapping women and altering their faces to resemble real, life-size dolls. As a forensic pathologist, it's her job to aid the agent leading the case - even if that agent is her estranged husband.

Trust Me

Skye Kellerman was attacked in her own bed. She managed to fend off her knife-wielding assailant, but the trauma changed everything about her life. As a result of that night, she joined two friends in starting an organization to help victims of crime.

But now...Her would-be rapist is getting out of prison. Skye knows that Dr. Oliver Burke hasn't forgotten that her testimony cost him his reputation - and his freedom.

Sacramento detective David Willis, who investigated her case, believes Burke is a clear and present danger - and guilty of at least two unsolved murders. And now Burke is free to terrorize Skye again. Unless David can stop him. Unless Skye can fight back.

The Secrets She Kept

Keith bears scars - both physical and emotional - from his childhood, but he's worked hard to overcome the past. After walking away from his mother and her controlling ways five years ago, he's built a new life in LA. He's also accumulated a fortune of his own. But as soon as he learns of his mother's death, he returns to Fairham. He feels he owes it to his grandfather to put the family empire together again, and he's determined to find his mother's killer.

Tangled Webs: Men of Valor, Book 3

After a disastrous Middle East mission ends his six-year Army Ranger career, Finn McGregor needs some downtime. A peaceful month in the woods sounds like the perfect way to decompress. But peace isn't on the agenda once he crosses paths with publishing executive Dana Lewis, a neighbor who is nursing wounds of her own. Someone seems bent on disrupting her stay in the lakeside cabin she inherited from her grandfather. As Finn and Dana work together to discover who is behind the disquieting pranks, the incidents begin to take on a menacing tone.

Her Darkest Nightmare

Evelyn Talbot knows that a psychopath can look perfectly normal. She was only 16 when her own boyfriend, Jasper, imprisoned and tortured her - and left her for dead. Now an eminent psychiatrist who specializes in the criminal mind, Evelyn is the force behind Hanover House, a maximum-security facility located in a small Alaskan town. Her job puts her at odds with Sergeant Amarok, who is convinced that Hanover is a threat to his community, even as his attraction to beautiful Evelyn threatens to tear his world apart.

All the Beautiful Brides: Graveyard Falls

A young woman lies dead at the bottom of a waterfall, dressed in a wedding gown with a rose stem jammed down her throat. And in the small town of Graveyard Falls, the horrifying vision stirs a long-ago nightmare back to life.... FBI Special Agent Cal Coulter gets called in to investigate the murder, which bears a terrifying resemblance to a series of killings committed thirty years ago: three teenage girls were found dead at the waterfall's base, all bearing rose stems in their throats.

Discovering You: Whiskey Creek, Book 10

India Sommers once had the perfect family - until an ex-boyfriend broke in and shot her husband. Not only did that cost her the man she loved, a respected heart surgeon and the father of her child, but she also feels responsible. Charlie died because of the people she hung out with before she had the strength to change her life.

The Devil's Work

It was the job she had dreamed of since childhood. But on her very first day, when an unnerving encounter drags up memories Sophie Greenwood would rather forget, she wonders if she has made a mistake. A fatal mistake. What is her ambitious young assistant really up to? And what exactly happened to Sophie's predecessor? When her husband and daughter are pulled into the nightmare, Sophie is forced to confront the darkest secrets she has carried for years.

The Secret Sister

After a painful divorce, Maisey Lazarow returns to Fairham, the small island off the North Carolina coast where she grew up. She goes there to heal - and to help her brother, Keith, a deeply troubled man who's asked her to come home. But she refuses to stay in the family house. The last person she wants to see is her wealthy, controlling mother. Instead she finds herself living next door to someone else she'd prefer to avoid - Rafe Romero, the wild, reckless boy to whom she lost her virginity at 16.

Hidden: A Bone Secrets Novel

Eleven years ago, the Co-Ed Slayer murdered nine female college students on the Oregon State University campus. Lacey Campbell barely survived his attack, but he killed her best friend, Suzanne, whose body was never found. Now a forensic odontologist analyzing teeth and bones for the state medical examiner, Lacey is devastated when she identifies Suzanne’s remains at a crime scene. She finds comfort in the arms of ex-cop Jack Harper, and sparks fly between them.

Stalking Ground: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery, Book 2

When Deputy Ken Brody's sweetheart goes missing in the mountains outside Timber Creek, Mattie Cobb and her K-9 partner Robo are called to search. But it's mid-October and a dark snow storm is brewing over the high country. And they're already too late. By the time they find her body, the storm has broken and the snow is coming down hard.

Darkness

New York Times bestselling author Karen Robards continues her penchant for "fantastic storytelling" (RT Book Reviews) with this next heart-pumping romantic suspense novel, the tale of a brilliant ornithologist trapped on the remote Attu Island in Alaska, fighting for her life - and that of a handsome stranger - before they're swallowed up in darkness forever.

The Killing Game

It's the ultimate test of strategy and skill. The killer chooses each opponent carefully, learning each one's weaknesses. Every meticulously planned move is leading to a devastating checkmate. Because in this game, all the pretty pawns must die.

The Kept Woman: Will Trent, Book 8

It's the most dangerous case of Will Trent's career. He knows this from the moment he sets foot in the abandoned Atlanta warehouse where a body lies on the floor - the body of an ex-cop. Bloody footprints leading away from the scene reveal that another victim, evidently a woman, was carried away and has vanished into thin air. And, worst of all, the warehouse belongs to the city's biggest and most high-profile athlete - a local hero protected by the world's most expensive lawyers.

The Shark: Forgotten Files, Book 1

At the grisly murder scene of a teen prostitute, Virginia state trooper Riley Tatum's past roars back to haunt her. When she was a teenage runaway, she was kidnapped, drugged, and left unconscious on the streets. She has no memories of what happened, only strange recurring dreams of two men playing cards. Former FBI agent Clay Bowman, Riley's old flame, is Shield Security's newest member. He's plagued by the unsolved case of a serial killer nicknamed the Shark who murdered girls as part of a sadistic poker game.

Always a Cowboy

Drake Carson is the quintessential cowboy. In charge of the family ranch, he knows the realities of this life, its pleasures and heartbreaks. Lately, managing the wild stallions on his property is wearing him down. When an interfering so-called expert arrives and starts offering her opinion, Drake is wary, but he can't deny the longing - and the challenge - she stirs in him. Luce Hale is researching how wild horses interact with ranch animals - and with ranchers. The Carson matriarch invites her to stay with the family, which guarantees frequent encounters with Drake.

Vanished

When an 11-year-old is abducted on her way to school, the FBI doesn't waste a moment, sending agents to scour the area and embedding Special Agent Ava McLane with the distraught family. In the eye of the storm is local detective Mason Callahan, whose life is crumbling to pieces - he's related to the victim, and his longtime confidential informant has just been murdered.

Outrage: Faith McMann Trilogy, Book 2

The happy life Faith McMann knew as a wife, mother, and teacher was destroyed when vicious criminals murdered her husband, kidnapped her children, and left her for dead. After paralyzing grief, fear, and despair, there was nothing left for her to feel...except fury. But striking a staggering blow against a brutal ring of human traffickers was just the beginning of her uphill battle.

Troublemaker: A Novel

For Morgan Yancy, an operative and team leader in a paramilitary group, nothing comes before his job. But when he's ambushed and almost killed, his supervisor is determined to find out who's after the members of his elite squad - and why. Due to worries that this unknown enemy will strike again, Morgan is sent to a remote location and told to lay low and stay vigilant. But between a tempting housemate he's determined to protect and a deadly threat waiting in the shadows, keeping under the radar is proving to be his most dangerous mission yet.

Exposed: An Edgars Family Novel

US Marshal Frank Castello is on medical leave and feeling restless. While at his friends' wedding, he finds himself attracted to Sydney Peele. Problem is, the cute, sassy blonde is the photographer for the wedding. Frank hates photographers. They're a hazard to his profession, especially when he's on witness protection duty. Sydney Peele is intrigued by the grumpy Marshal at her friend's wedding, even when the big, sexy man begrudgingly offers to take her home afterwards. Her pleasure is short lived when her home and life is literally going up in flames.

Every Waking Moment

Emma Wright has finally escaped the dangerous man who's controlled her every move for the past six years. Taking her 5-year-old son, she has fled across the country seeking freedom, safety, and a fresh start. But Max's father isn't giving them up so easily.

The Love Killings: Detective Matt Jones, Book 2

For the past six weeks, LAPD detective Matt Jones has been recovering from the wrong end of a hit man's bullet. Before he can look for payback, Jones finds himself enlisted in the manhunt for an old foe. Dr. George Baylor, the serial killer who escaped after murdering three coeds in LA, resurfaces on the East Coast. This time, an entire family has been slaughtered in their home outside Philadelphia, and the doctor's fingerprints are all over the crime scene.

Publisher's Summary

Virgil Skinner served 14 years for a murder he didn’t commit. He’s finally been exonerated, but he can’t escape the gang he joined in order to survive. They’ll do anything to keep him from telling what he knows. And if they can’t get to Virgil, they’ll go after his sister and her kids.

The California Department of Corrections needs someone to infiltrate another gang, one that’s taking control of the state’s most notorious supermax. Virgil’s the perfect candidate, and he’ll agree to do it under an alias - in exchange for his sister’s protection.

Chief Deputy Warden Peyton Adams is opposed to having Virgil in her prison. How will she protect him if things go bad? Besides, she’s far too attracted to him; she might even be falling in love with him. That makes her all the more desperate to keep him safe - and it gives him someone else to lose.

My first read for Brenda Novak--glad I found her. I have been looking for another writer who does suspense as well as romance--I found her in Ms. Novak. I am like the other person that gave her thoughts--the characters tended to fall in love very quickly (only reason I gave it a four), but I guess it can happen. No matter it was a good story and held my interest the entire time I was listening.

But I have said this in more than one of my reviews, the narrator can make or break the book. Angela Dawe is one of my favorite readers--way up on the todem pole. She does a stupendous job with this book. I am looking forward to listening to the next book about his (Virgil's) sister. Hopefully she will continue on with the series with the other character "Pretty Boy", since she it appears that Laurel and Pretty Boy did not hook up (at least I think that did not). I am downloading the second book as I am typing this.

This was a pretty good story. The characters kept things interesting. I suppose if I had to pick something to critique, it would be my issue with many novels and not this one specifically. It is the fact that people fall in love way too quickly. Admittedly, when it is centered around a respectable storyline it does help. It was also the first Novak novel for me. Having it read by Angela Dawe is a plus as she is one of my favorite narrators. I will definitely be getting Book 2 and Book 3 whenever it's released.

yup, my 1st B.N. book and well worth the listening time. Characters were compelled and so is a listener to hear this story. This one had me on the edge of my seat to hear the details unfold.

What did you like best about this story?

Our hero is as sweet as can be, almost regaining his lost years.

What about Angela Dawe’s performance did you like?

I went looking for her work and discovered this series. A.D. is wonderful and she has improved so much from my 1st listens of her reads.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Compelled

Any additional comments?

this is a fast listen which keeps you up late to finish...note: if you are looking for steamy love scenes with lots of graph language, this is not it. This was more of The Fugitive type story which will not disappoint.

Listen mostly to urban fantasy and suspense/thrillers but also enjoy mysteries, sci-fi, fantasy, romance, adventure, classic, modern, spiritual or general literature. And I always like a bit of romance in any of my stories.

I listened to and enjoyed all of the "Last Stand" books so I had high hopes when I started this book. Unfortunately it is nothing like the others. The "Last Stand" books are an even mix of romance and suspense with the suspense leading out and gathering throughout the book. This book had little to no suspense until the final 3 hours when the story finally got to the story that was in the description. Before that point what little suspense there was to the story was so spread out that that it might as well not be called suspense. Unfortunately the romance that dominates the book is of the sort that I don't care for where the heroine is inexplicably and continually drawn to a man who repeatedly pushes her away and treats her like dirt.

Ms Dawe's performance unfortunately did not help the book. Though you could distinguish between characters her male and female characters sounded much alike. Even worse, there was little to no emotion portrayed whether the emotion was passion, anger or even fear. It seemed for most of the book that she was as uninterested as I was quickly becoming.

If you're a fan of "The Last Stand" series be warned that's not what this is. If you are a fan of the sort of romance I described you may enjoy this book. I've already purchased all three of the books in the "Bulletproof" series when they were on sale based on my experience with Ms Novak's other series. Hopefully the others are more like her previous work.